The One who Walks in my Shadows
by Ceilo
Summary: It's not easy growing up with someone else inside your head, as Kimi knows all too well. Companion fic to The New Reincarnations. Oneshot.


The One who walks in my Shadows

Sometimes Kimi can feel him watching her.

Ever since she was a little girl, someone has always been just behind her, shadowing her every move.

Ryuu can't see the one following her, and is always confused by his sister's nervousness.

"What is it Kimi-oneechan? What are you looking for?" he would ask her, but she would just shake her head, and cling tighter to her brother's arm.

It seems that the sight of her brother drives him away.

***

But then there are the days when her brother isn't there for her to hide behind. It was the twins' 6th birthday, but Kimi had been feeling down. Ryuu was ill, and she had been shooed away before she could catch whatever it was that her brother had.

She doesn't like this, separating her and her brother never feels right. They had to be together, or else they seemed to lose it.

He appears to her then, not the little glimpses that she had caught of him before.

He terrifies her.

There are many things about him that would scare any person. The bloodstains on his clothes, the long, deadly, deceiving blade that is always clasped tightly in his hands.

But no, it's his face that scares Kimi the most.

Because when she looks at him, it's only herself that she sees looking back.

The first time she really sees his face, and realises the resemblance, she screams, bringing her mother running to see what's wrong.

But Kimi never tells her secret.

She's scared of what will happen if she does.

***

She is constantly looking at her face in the mirror now, as if to memorise every feature.

Some call it vanity. Her brother jokes that she's in love with her own face, but that couldn't be further from the truth.

It's her face that she hates the most now, because whenever she looks in the mirror, she can only see him staring back.

A couple of years pass, and she sees him once again, only this time they talk.

"You do know that I'm prettier than you." The spirit said suddenly.

Kimi thought that it was a funny thing to say, so she laughs.

"How can you tell?" she asks, still giggling under her breath. "It's like looking in a mirror."

The spirit has no answer to that.

Kimi continues, he voice as light and careless as if she were with her friends. "Why do you hate my brother?" she asks, curious as to why she is safe with her brother.

The spirit is silent again, and Kimi wonders if he's going to leave her.

"I don't hate him…I just can't stand the sight of him," comes the eventual reply, and the spirit hurries away, leaving Kimi on her own.

She never once looked at his face.

***

After they talked for the first time, he seems to appear more often than before. He and Kimi talk, but there's a tension between them that can't be ignored.

"Did you have a brother?" Kimi would ask.

"I had six once." Comes the reply.

"Was my brother one of them?"

"…yes."

"Did no one else come with you?" Kimi asks after the long pause that followed, twiddling a mirror between her hands.

The smile on his face is bitter. "No, I'm the only one it seems. I always did have the worst luck."

Kimi wonders about this.

"But…you're me, right? And we've got Ryuu. Isn't that a good thing?"

"It's…"

"It's…?"

"…not the same."

***

Sometime Kimi can see chains around his ankles and wrists, and she wonders why they're there.

"I chained myself." Comes the irritated answer.

"Why do you need to be chained?" Kimi wonders, and he tells her

"I'm chaining myself to the memories of my brothers. This way, I can't forget them."

"But…you're still alone…" Kimi thinks, and she offers him her hand.

"I'll help you." She says.

"I don't want you to…" he grumbles, curling up into a ball. "I have to stay here, or I'll forget…and that's unacceptable…" his face is hidden, but Kimi can smell the salt of his tears.

***

Weeks later, and he is still chained. Kimi starts to dream now, visions of a man half made of metal, a gentle doctor to a claw wielding killer. A dwarf with his face covered, releasing deadly toxins. A giant, and then a manipulative fire-breather.

She sees Ryuu with them too, his face contorted with wild exhilaration.

She can feel the adrenaline rushing through her own body, her sword clasped tightly in her fist.

Blood splatters across her face.

***

But the more she dreams, the more she forgets what she's dreamed.

And the spirit grows scared.

"I can't forget them, I won't and I can't…" she can hear him whispering, and she pities him.

But he sees the pity in her eyes, and throws the mirror at her.

"What the hell are you looking at, with those eyes?!" he screams, but you can hear the panic in his voice.

"You're so alone, aren't you?" Kimi asks, staring at a spot on the floor. She is no longer scared of this spectre, only her face on it.

The spirit snorts, wrapping his chains tighter. "I'm not alone. I have my brothers with me."

Liar.

***

She tries helping him up once, and gets a shard of mirror stabbed into her palm for her troubles.

"How dare you!" the spirit rages, jumping to his feet, chain and shackles still around his wrists and ankles. "Stupid filth, how dare you try and help me?"

Kimi didn't reply, instead stared at her hand thoughtfully. "You forget what I forget…don't you?" she asks him, and his eyes well up with rebellious tears.

"How...how can filth like you…without a care in the world…possibly understand how I feel?!" he screamed at her, beating ghostly fists against her chest, the chains rattling. Blood tricked down from where the cuffs bit into his wrists.

He seemed to run out of energy, however, and collapsed against Kimi's chest, sobbing his heart out.

"I…I don't know what to do anymore," he muttered, voice slightly hoarse. "They're not coming for me…and I'm forgetting them. How will they ever forgive me?"

Kimi had no answer.

***

When the twins are 15, their parents decide to send them back to Japan. The reason is unknown to them, but they are excited all the same. When the spirit hears this, he is excited. "Maybe my brothers are there!" he whispers excitedly. "Of course they will! I'll find them again; I'll finally find them…" Kimi wonders what he's talking about, until she realises that his clothes are Japanese, and that's the language he has always spoken to her.

Her brother is excited too, he's always wanted to go back to Japan.

"it's gonna be so cool, isn't it sis?" he grins at her, and Kimi grins back, and asks if he thinks there will be many cute boys over there. The spirit laughs at this along with her brother, and Kimi silently wonders why he's suddenly so happy. Is Japan that important to him?

She can barely remember the faces of her once-brothers anymore. She sees a white haired boy now, with adorable ears twitching on top of his head. The spirit is happy with this memory too. "Ahh...he was so cute. And what a fighter! He was almost as good as oo-aniki!"

Kimi finds it hard to believe that anyone can even compare to her brother.

***

They have finally arrived, and are about to enter the new classroom. Kimi is studiously ignoring the spirit right behind her, instead she's muttering with her brother, trying to catch glances of any cute boys through the doorway.

They finally enter as the teacher calls them, and Kimi is instantly scanning the classroom along with the spirit, quite what they're looking for, she's not sure anymore. And then she catches sight of a girl.

The girl was highly unremarkable, with long black hair and wide blue eyes. She was pretty, but it was no great beauty. And yet there's something about her. Something that nags in Kimi's mind, until it's all she can think about. The spirit notices the girl too, and lets out a strangle cry of rage at the sight of her.

"That little piece of FILTH!" he starts, and charges towards her not noticing that he's suddenly started to fade.

The girl suddenly meets Kimi's eyes, and Kimi remembers.

And then she forgets.

_Hiya, Ceilo here! I'm not dead!! Although this is a pretty lame 'sorry' gift for slacking so much…this is just a little insight into what Kimi's life might have been like. I don't really know why I did this, just that it was something I wanted to explore. What would it be like growing up with someone else in your head? Especially a deadly killer like Jakotsu. Btw, in case this confuses anyone, everything except for the last little bit takes place in America, which if you remember if where Kimi and Ryuu grew up. And yes, they are twins. Kimi's older by 15 minutes. (pointless rambling)…well, sorry for disappearing for so long, please forgive me!! And I'll try to update the other story soon, I promise!!!_


End file.
